World’s Best Features.

We scour the world for the best feature length productions of 2013 – and retrospectively, where appropriate. Screen-based stories that entertain, challenge and inspire. Productions that reach the mind and the hearts of audiences of all ages, interests and tastes

In 2013 our creative team has sourced the world’s best feature length screen productions from:

Congratulations BOFA 2012. I loved all the films I saw. Such a diverse range from all over the world. ‘”The First Fagin” is a winner with its great Tassie actors and scenery. Providing light relief was “All You Need is Love” and with darker content and amazing acting by amateurs was “Beasts of the Southern Wild”. Like everyone I was touched by “And If We All Lived Together” and thoroughly enjoyed the Irish film “The Runway”. Finally I enjoyed chasing waves late on Saturday night with “Sally” – well done guys!

- Ruth Cuff, film lover, Launceston

This is what a Launceston film-lover has to say

Thursday November 7

All is Lost

VILLAGE CINEMA. 6.30pm

Direct from Cannes Film Festival –“A stunning work of art.”
“Redford delivers a tour de force performance.”
Guardian

Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. An elemental drama of human survival.

“All is Lost has such rhythm and intensity that it makes utterly compelling viewing. As viewers, we are entirely caught up in the sailor’s struggle”.
Independent

Friday November 8

Gloria

Gloria is a 58-year-old divorcee whose children have moved out. Rather than go quietly into that good night of a sexually inactive old age, she is out there at singles’ nights. When she meets Rudolfo she begins to hope that they might just have a chance together, though it is a relationship that will undergo some pretty severe tests.

“Gloria is a work of maturity, depth and emotional insight. There’s not a single false note”
Hollywood Reporter

Nairobi Half Life

A catchy comedy, filled with unlikely plot turns that go with the genre and the colourful realism of real African life. The trump card is Joseph Wairimu, who makes his stunning acting debut as Mwas, a character who would really like to be an actor, but is drawn into a circle of petty car-part thieves and muggers. He leads a double life- winning a role in a local production, but will he make it to opening night?

Tenderness

Lisa and Frans have been separated for 15 years, but find themselves thrown together over two days when they drive through France to pick up their son Jack, after a snowboarding accident. A compassionate, warm and very honest look at love and affection. Funny, beautifully shot with stunning vistas of France, and featuring extraordinarily open and gently memorable performances

Mystery Road

Australia – Director Ivan Sen

TRAMSHEDS THEATRE. 7.45pm-10.00pm

“astonishing and mesmerizing”
SMH

Indigenous detective Jay Swan (an impressive Aaron Pedersen) returns from the city to his remote hometown and his first case is the murder of a teenage girl. When Jay returns he is alienated from both the police force and his community, including his own daughter. Though thwarted in his investigations by a lack of cooperation from the locals, and a lack of interest from his fellow cops, Jay gradually unravels a complex crime web. Stellar Australian cast includes Hugo Weaving and Jack Thompson.

Saturday November 9

Kayan Beauties

Burma – Director Aung Ko Latt

QVMAG THEATRE. 10.00am-11.45am

Winner- Special Jury Award – ASEAN International Film Festival

Three Kayan women travel from their remote village to the distant city of Taunggyi, accompanied by a Kayan girl, who has just had the tribe’s decorative brass rings placed around her neck. The girl is kidnapped and, far from home and out of their element, the Kayan women desperately search for her. A searing indictment of the scourge of human trafficking.

Hannah Arendt

Germany, Luxembourg, France – Director Margarethe von Trotta

THE ANNEXE. 2.00pm-4.15pm

“captivating depiction of a committed life…absorbing”
Chicago Tribune

The sublime Barbara Sukowa stars in this brilliant new biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s controversial reporting on the trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker – introduced her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.”

Haute Cuisine

France – Director Daniel Vincent

TRAMSHEDS THEATRE. 2.30pm-4.15pm

“An enchanting film about food – the joys of cooking and pleasures of eating.”
Australian

Based on the real-life case of Daniele Delpeuch , a modest provincial chef and restaurant-owner who was summoned by President François Mitterrand to be his personal cook at the Elysee Palace, to produce the traditional regional cuisine he knew in his youth- “the best of France.”

Wadjda

Saudi Arabia – Director Haifaa Al Mansour

TRAMSHEDS THEATRE. 4.30pm-6.30pm

“One of the year’s best movies”
Slate Magazine

Saudi Arabia’s first feature film- and directed by a woman. Wadjda is the story of a spirited 10-year-old Saudi girl discovering the severe limitations placed on women in the name of custom, Islam and family honor, when she desperately wants to buy a bike. The film holds out the possibility, modestly sketched and ardently desired, of change.

The Exam

Hungary – Director Peter Bergendy

THE ANNEXE. 4.30pm-6.15pm

“A taut and suspenseful thriller”
Hollywood Reporter

Spies spying on spies in an era of Communist paranoia in Hungary when no-one can be trusted. When part-time spy Jung meets a female freedom it casts doubt on his loyalty to the Party. Will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Parkland

USA – Director Peter Landesman

VILLAGE CINEMA. 6.30pm-8.15pm

“An involving account of the chaotic aftermath of the Kennedy slaying”
Guardian

Marking the 50th anniversary of the event, Parkland looks beyond the JFK assassination to examine the surrounding figures on that infamous day and their roles in one of the most important events in American history. All star cast includes Zac Effron, Paul Giamatti and Jacki Weaver.

The Rocket

Australia – Director Kim Mordaunt

THE ANNEXE. 7.00pm-8.45pm/strong>

“Beautiful, just beautiful.”
Weekend Notes

In Laos, a 10 year old boy is blamed for a string of disasters. In an effort to prove he’s not cursed, he builds a giant rocket to enter the most lucrative but dangerous event of the year- the Rocket Festival. Gripping and heartwarming story, set in a war-ravaged country on the brink of huge change

Around The Block

Australia – Director Sarah Spillane

TRAMSHEDS THEATRE. 7.30pm-9.45pm
Followed by Q & A

“A terrific story that’s so rare”
Screen Australia

Christina Ricci plays a first-time teacher bringing Shakespeare to a tough Redfern school. She befriends a troubled Aboriginal student with an unexpected love of acting, trying to stay on course despite the fact that his family are Redfern criminal royalty. A story of love, revenge and triumph, co starring Jack Thompson.

A Step in the Right Direction

Australia – Director Jared Abdul-Rahman

THE ANNEXE. 9.00pm-10.30pm
Followed by Q & A

A unique Tasmanian film production that attempts to show reactions and adjustment to life after a public killing. In a small city like Hobart, Tasmania, where the community is small and tight-knit, how long does it take for society to mourn, heal, and move forward?

Sunday November 10

FREE EVENT
MADE IN TASMANIA

Manganinnie

Australia, 1980 – free screening with director John Honey

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN. 9.30am-11.30am
Followed by Q & A with director John Honey

The first modern feature film made in Tasmania, and an Australian classic.
In 1830, Tasmanian aboriginal woman Manganinnie survives a Black Line raid which claims the life of her husband. During a family outing in the wilderness, a young girl, Joanna, becomes separated from her family leaving Manganinni to take her into her care. Joanna joins Manganinnie on a long journey in search of her people. Exquisitely photographed by Gary Hansen, capturing the raw beauty of Tasmania’s untouched wilderness.

Inch’Allah

Canada – Director Anais Barbeau-Lavalette

QVMAG THEATRE. 2.00pm-4.00pm
Followed by Q & A

Chloe is a young Canadian obstetrician working in a makeshift clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, where she treats pregnant women under the supervision of Michael, a French doctor. Facing daily checkpoints and the separation barrier, Chloe is confronted with the conflict and the people it affects. Controversially withdrawn from Melbourne’s Israeli Film Festival as “anti-Israel”.

My Sweet Pepperland

“a warm, witty lampooning of John Wayne western from a corner of
the world where the Wild West still exists”
Melbourne Film Festival

It’s 2003 and the fall of Saddam opens up the possibility of a Kurdish homeland, but it is still a wild, untamed territory. War hero Baran rides into town as the new sheriff on the border frontier with Turkey. Local warlord Aziz has the place all stitched up. Like a Kurdish John Wayne, Baran faces down Aziz. A highly entertaining story told with humour, flair and Elvis Presley music.

Gloria

Chile/Spain – Director Sebastian Lelio

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN. 4.00pm-6.00pm

“A film full of vivacity, warmth and charisma.”
CineVue

Gloria is a 58-year-old divorcee whose children have moved out. Rather than go quietly into that good night of a sexually inactive old age, she is out there at singles’ nights. When she meets Rudolfo she begins to hope that they might just have a chance together, though it is a relationship that will undergo some pretty severe tests.

“Gloria is a work of maturity, depth and emotional insight. There’s not a single false note”
Hollywood Reporter

All is Lost

VILLAGE CINEMA. 4.30pm-6.15pm

Direct from Cannes Film Festival –“A stunning work of art.”
“Redford delivers a tour de force performance.”
Guardian

Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. An elemental drama of human survival.

“All is Lost has such rhythm and intensity that it makes utterly compelling viewing. As viewers, we are entirely caught up in the sailor’s struggle”.
Independent